Remembering The Old Songs:

JIMMY RANDALL [CHILD #12]

by Lyle Lofgren

(Originally published: Inside Bluegrass, May 2002)

When you get old like me, you need every brain cell that's left, so now
when I sing I depend on material that doesn't require many. This
month's offering is as attractive as Katie
Dear (March 2002) in that
neither of them require much memory. The Q&A narrative method used
here, which could be called Dramatic Dialog, is a technique used by
many of the oldest British ballads. I can't think of any psychological
reason why this might be easier to remember than other narrative
techniques. Maybe it's memorable because it's so...er--dramatic.

Sir Walter Scott, who collected it on the Scottish border as Lord
Randal, thought it possibly referred to Randal, Earl of Murray, who
was allegedly poisoned in 1332. Child, though, found lots of related
songs from all over Europe, which indicates the story is less local
than Scott thought. None of the British versions give True Love's
motive in poisoning Lord Randal, although jealousy might have something
to do with it.

Before you throw out all your eel-with-onion recipes, you should
know
from the related ballads that those eels were really snakes. Other
suitable materials are juice from punctured toads or dead snakes
steeped in wine for awhile. In all those instances, though, bloated
dead dogs are a sure sign of ingested-reptile poisoning. If you really
get into this stuff, another ballad tells you how to blind your husband
by feeding him eggs and marrowbone. Just watch your step when you try
to push him into the water.

I learned this version from a 1950s Stinson LP by Harry and Jeanie
West
of North Carolina, so it's probably from that state. Changing "Lord"
into something democratic like "Jimmy" is typical of the
Americanization of British songs. The condensation also omits a whole
lot of verses where Jimmy dictates his will, dividing his possessions
among various relatives, but bequeathing damnation to True Love.

As with Katie Dear, I tested my theory about the power of a
song like
this to overcome SWI (Singing While Impaired) by writing out the words
as I remembered them after about 40 years without hearing the original.
The only mistakes were interchanging verses 2 and 3 and substituting
"butter" for "onions" (cholesterol anxiety?).